After my conversation with Akeno, something subtle shifted in her.
From the outside, not much changed. She still teased me. She still smiled that gentle, slightly sadistic smile. She still wore the same calm mask in front of the servants, the same polite tone in front of my parents.
But the intentions under those actions tilted.
Before, her teasing was detached. A way to amuse herself by poking the serious Bael heir. There was curiosity, there was mischief, but there was distance.
After we talked about her fallen blood, about her hating herself because of her father, something in her gaze when she looked at me softened.
She stood a little closer.
Her laughter lingered a little longer.
Her sparring became a little more showy when I was watching.
It did not take a genius to understand what was happening. Anyone with half a brain could see it. Kuroka, who had a full one and a cat's instincts, certainly did.
Akeno Himejima had developed a crush on me.
I noticed the first time she called me "Magdaran-sama" in a slightly different cadence. The honorific was the same, the tone almost identical, but there was an undercurrent of warmth where before there had only been politeness and amusement.
She still teased me, of course.
"Magdaran-sama, you are too serious, you will get wrinkles early," she would say with a playful smile.
"That is not how wrinkles work," I would answer.
"See? That is exactly what I mean," she would reply, laughing.
The difference was that now, when she said it, there was a hint of possessiveness in her amusement. A quiet "mine" that she might not consciously acknowledge, but which her body language betrayed.
I could have addressed it. I could have sat her down and said, "I can see that you have feelings for me, let us discuss boundaries." That would have been the mature, therapy approved route.
Instead, I chose not to.
Not because I was afraid of the conversation. But because the timing was wrong.
Devils encourage polygamy. With their low birth rates and heavy casualties in old wars, they incentive multiple partners for strong devils. Harems, concubines, multiple spouses, all are common among the noble houses. My father is a prime example.
By devil standards, me eventually having several lovers or wives would not be strange. It would be expected.
Rias, as my fiancé, knows this on a logical level, even if she might not like it emotionally later. Kuroka, as a Nekoshou with her own history, certainly has no illusions about exclusivity. Akeno, as someone who knows devil society from the outside, understands it too.
I, however, hold one personal rule (which I just made up).
Before I reach Satan class, I will not actively pursue relationships.
Engagement with Rias is different, it was due to political reasons.
I will not ignore feelings. I will not deny they exist. I will not throw away bonds for the sake of cold efficiency. But I will not build a romantic network that becomes a weakness before I can defend it properly.
I am interested in emotions.
I am interested in love, lust, jealousy, devotion, all of it. I want to observe them, experience them, taste them as data and as life.
But I am not in a hurry.
At my current pace, Satan class is not a very difficult thing to achieve. With how my training and breakthroughs have been going, if nothing goes wrong, I will stand there in a few years.
So for now, I file Akeno's crush under "important, to be addressed later" and allow her to feel it without encouragement or rejection.
I do not flirt back. I also do not coldly push her away.
I let her lean on me emotionally where needed, tease me where she wants, grow on her own.
There is time.
And time, for someone with my processing habits, is a luxury.
A year passes.
-One year later-
The Underworld's artificial sky cycles through its colors. Training halls see blood and sweat and energy.
My power moves.
Half a year after awakening my Astaroth trait, I broke through again.
With my boosted reserves and absurd control, the barrier to Ultimate class arrives sooner than most would consider reasonable.
I prepared for it as carefully as the last one. Even more carefully, in fact, because I now understand the mechanics better.
My breakthrough efficiency during the jump from mid to high class was 69 on my internal scale. Not literally sixty nine percent, but an arbitrary point system I built to quantify how deep into the new tier I landed.
Low level high class ranges from 1 to 33. Mid level from 34 to 67. High level from 68 upwards.
Landing at 69 meant I had barely crossed into high level high class, but I was inside it.
When I break into Ultimate, my goal was to improve the efficiency further.
I refined the algorithm, tighten my control routes, integrate Senjutsu and Touki stabilizers more elegantly. When the surge comes, the demonic energy floods my system, heavier and thicker than before, closer to conceptual density.
I managed to hold, redirect, compress and integrate.
When it was over, my internal scale read approximately 72.
Not just an Ultimate class devil, but already high level Ultimate at the moment of crossing.
It is a jump from high level high class 99 to high level Ultimate 72. The absolute power difference is enormous, the relative efficiency a three point improvement.
That breakthrough happens six months before the scene that concerns us now.
By the time we reach the present, my body and power have fully adapted to it.
Which is why, one seemingly ordinary day, I find myself sitting across from my father, listening to him ask a very simple question.
"Are you sure you want yourself registered as an Ultimate class?"
Lord Bael sat behind his desk, the same old wood, the same faint smell of ink and power.
He studied me over steepled fingers.
"I mean," he continued, "it is true you became one half a year ago, and straight up high level Ultimate at that, but still, considering your age, it will cause quite the shock."
His tone was not disapproving.
He sounded amused.
I sat upright in the chair opposite him, dressed in a black suit that now fit a slightly taller, slightly sharper body. My aura was mostly suppressed, but even hidden, it pressed subtly against the room, a quiet pressure.
"It will," I agreed.
"And you are not interested in keeping it a secret?" he asked. "Letting everyone underestimate you for a while longer?"
I considered the question carefully.
In many stories in my database, hiding strength is a common tactic. The "hidden dragon" trope, the "low profile genius", the one who stays quiet until the perfect moment to explode.
In some contexts, that pattern is optimal.
In this one, it is less so.
"There are too many in the Underworld who underestimate me," I said. "Not in the sense of disrespect, but in the sense of miscalculation. They still think of the old Magdaran. The arrogant child. Or at most, a promising high class heir."
My eyes met his.
"In politics," I said, "letting others misjudge your general tier can be useful. But if they misjudge too much, they might attempt moves that become annoying to clean up. If they know I am Ultimate, some categories of stupidity will not be attempted."
He huffed a near silent laugh.
"Fear as a deterrent," he said. "Classic."
"There is also clan pride," I added. "As the Bael heir, having an Ultimate class rank formally acknowledged at my age is useful for our image. It reinforces the narrative that Bael stands above the other great clans."
He smiled at that.
"And you are confident you can protect yourself from the consequences of this fame?" he asked. "Assassination attempts, recruitment attempts, envy, political traps."
"Yes," I said.
It was not arrogance.
Ultimate class is not the peak. There are Satan class beings above, Super Devils beyond them, gods and dragons in a sphere of their own.
But Ultimate class is a threshold.
Below that, most devils, fallen, angels, and human magicians will break if they attempt direct confrontation. Only those with established power and reputation can threaten me seriously.
And I am not a nameless wanderer.
I am the heir of Great King Bael. The political ramifications of killing me are substantial.
Fame has cons, certainly.
Women with ulterior motives. Covenants with fine print. Challenges from idiots trying to prove something.
It also has pros.
People think twice before spitting in your direction. Doors open on their own. Information flows easier. Alliances become simpler to formalize.
"I do not need to hide like some reincarnated commoner with no backing," I said. "My existence is already public. I might as well define the terms of that publicity myself."
My father leaned back in his chair.
A slow smile spread across his face.
"Good," he said. "You think like a Bael. And yes, you are nearly as powerful as me... and will probably surpass me soon, so I guess it's alright."
He swirled his drink idly.
"Very well," he said. "I will bring it up in the next council meeting. They will ask questions. They will be shocked. Some will grumble about favoritism. Some will be secretly pleased that Bael produced such a monster."
He chuckled.
"I look forward to their expressions," he added.
"Do you want me present?" I asked.
"Not necessary," he said. "This is a formal registration, not a trial. I will hand them the measurement results from our own tests. They will not be able to argue with those."
He gave me another long look.
"High level Ultimate," he mused. "At your age, I was still stuck in high level from what I can remember. You surely will be getting some extra attention."
"Rias will be insufferable," I said dryly. "She will use it as an excuse to demand more trips to the human world, saying she needs an Ultimate class guard to 'justify' them."
He snorted in amusement.
"Then go indulge her a little," he said. "Keeping her happy is part of your job."
"Noted," I said.
He waved a hand.
"You can go," he said. "Prepare for more attention. Enjoy it. You have earned the right to stand and be seen."
I stood, inclined my head slightly, and left.
The council meeting took place a few days later.
I was not physically present, but Bael spies and circulating reports quickly painted the picture.
The Great King faction, Maou faction, various neutral houses, all gathered in the usual place. Zekram Bael, the ancient pillar of our clan, attended. So did Sirzechs, Ajuka, Serafall, Falbium, and a multitude of high ranked devils.
At some point in the proceedings, my father casually produced documentation.
"By the way," he said, voice carrying across the hall, "my son, Magdaran Bael, has recently stabilized his Ultimate class breakthrough. The formal tests confirm high level Ultimate. I would like his rank registered accordingly."
The reaction was predictable.
Silence first.
Then whispers.
Then a spike of demonic energy as a few of the older devils lost control of their aura for a moment in surprise.
High level Ultimate.
Not low, not mid, but high.
Registered for the Bael heir, who is still young enough to be called a boy.
Zekram, according to my sources, smiled in that thin way that never quite reaches his eyes.
"A fine weapon you are sharpening there," he said to my father.
Sirzechs reportedly narrowed his eyes, assessing the data. Ajuka, ever the scientist, became thoughtful, no doubt already calculating potential threat levels and future variables.
The Maou faction as a whole took note.
This is the son engaged to Rias Gremory.
This is the heir to the Great King.
He is now formally acknowledged as Ultimate class.
Registration was accepted.
My name, which already had weight, acquired a new line.
Magdaran Bael.
Heir of the Great King.
High level Ultimate class.
The news spread through the Underworld within hours.
Each clan has its own methods of rumor control, but when something is this large, even the best censors cannot contain it completely.
"Have you heard? The Bael heir is Ultimate."
"Already? Are you certain?"
"They say he jumped high level straight away. At his age."
"Impossible. He is barely out of childhood."
"He is a Bael and an Astaroth. With Zekram backing him. What did you expect, a weakling?"
Some called it exaggeration or propaganda.
Some believed every word.
Some decided to wait and see.
The one who reacted most sharply, however, did so in a small training ground far from the central estate.
Sairaorg Bael gritted his teeth, fists wrapped in bandages, chest heaving with heavy breaths.
He had just finished another brutal set of physical drills. His muscles burned, sweat soaked through his clothes, and blood from split knuckles dripped onto the ground.
He had been training like this every day for years.
No Power of Destruction.
No rare traits.
Only body, will, and stubbornness.
He was proud of the gains he had made.
From talentless child to mid level high class through pure effort.
Yet now, as one of his retainers knelt in front of him, trembling slightly, and delivered the news, a cold weight settled in his stomach.
"Magdaran… is Ultimate class?" he repeated.
"Yes," the retainer said shakily. "High level Ultimate, according to the council registration."
Sairaorg clenched his jaw.
He had resolved once to defeat me.
To reclaim his position as heir.
To prove that a devil without Power of Destruction could still stand on the peak through fists alone.
He pictured me.
Younger than him.
Calm, serious, always composed.
He remembered the day I came to invite him into my peerage. The offer he refused. The path back to the estate he spat on to preserve his pride.
At the time, I had been strong, but still near his perception range.
Now, I had jumped into a different sky.
From mid level high class in his memory, to high level high class, to high level Ultimate in a relatively short span.
The gap was no longer something you could cross with a simple sprint.
It was a canyon.
A rational mind might have said, "Give up. This is hopeless."
Sairaorg's mind did not work that way.
If anything, the pressure made his resolve crystallize harder.
"If he is Ultimate," he said quietly, "then I will reach it too."
"Young master," the retainer said, "there is a difference between Bael's heir and…"
Sairaorg's fist slammed into the training pillar hard enough to crack it.
"Silence," he said, not angrily, but with iron.
He stared at his bleeding knuckles.
"Magdaran," he murmured. "You run ahead. I will chase. Even if I never catch you, I will not crawl."
He turned back to his dummies, to his weights, to his endless drills.
The news that was meant, at least partially, to solidify my position had the side effect of sharpening his.
That is acceptable.
An opponent who climbs makes the game more interesting.
Back in the Bael estate, I watched the spread of information with detached curiosity.
Fame is a variable.
It changes how others behave.
Servants bowed a little deeper when I walked by.
Instructors in the training grounds spoke to me with more caution, less casual advice. Some even began to ask me questions instead.
Peerage members of other clans, when they visited for joint exercises, stared at me openly.
"That is the Bael heir," they whispered. "High level Ultimate."
Rias sent me a message through a teleportation circle, written in her slightly messy, confident script.
You could have told me first, idiot. I was still keeping it a secret for you, imagine my surprise when I got the news of the announcement.
Then, on the next line,
Congratulations.
With a small drawing of a chibi version of me surrounded by sparkles.
I stored that in my memory with a quiet sense of amusement.
Fame has downsides, certainly.
Expectation increases, everyone knows about your abilities.
Some idiots might decide that the best way to boost their own reputation is to challenge me. I will have to set a clear precedent early to discourage repeat attempts.
But I considered the pros to outweigh the cons.
I am not someone with no background who has to hide in the shadows.
I am Bael.
I am Zekram's chosen heir.
I am Rias's fiancé. (Sirzechs Lucifer's brother-in-law)
Let the world know my general position. Let them adjust their calculations accordingly.
That does not mean I will stop hiding my full potential.
Ultimate class is not my final destination anyway.
The real threshold that matters, in terms of narrative and survival, is Satan class.
Once I cross that, I will be considered one of the pillars of raw power in the world, even without formal Maou title.
A high level Satan sits in the rough top fifty when you rank beings in this universe by combat power.
Some Gods, dragons, ancient monsters might still sit above, but the list becomes short.
Once I reach that level, anyone who can fight me head on will either have a long, terrifying history behind them, or be the main character of some other narrative.
Until then, I am still climbing.
My Ultimate class breakthrough landed me at 72 on my internal 0 to 100 scale. and six months later, I was already at 80.
I improved my efficiency by three points compared to my high class jump.
If I can push that further for my Satan class breakthrough, land at 75 on the Satan scale, then my first step into that tier will already be near high level Satan.
That would make the climb to peak Satan shorter.
The temptation to focus entirely on that is strong.
But there is another question beyond it that occupies my processing at least as much.
Super Devil.
In canon, this is an ill defined category.
Sirzechs's mutated Power of Destruction. Ajuka's Leviathan-sized brain and control. Entities that exceed normal Satan class limits.
Above them, the rare mixture of demonic and divine shows itself in someone like Lucifer, the original, who merged holy and demonic power and broke the normal categories.
My goal is not just to reach Satan.
If all I wanted was to sit comfortably under the Maou, I could slow down a little and still succeed.
But I am greedy. I want more, my newfound desires like to unfurl more, go beyond every thought.
I want to stand in a place where even Sirzechs and Ajuka cannot calmly look down. I want to be in the top five of this world's combatants at minimum.
That means aiming for Super Devil as a baseline, then beyond.
To do that, my path is very different from Sirzechs.
He, in the original timeline, gained power by pushing the amount of Power of Destruction to absurd levels. Quantity and unstable quality. In his full form, he becomes a walking disaster zone, unable to fully control the spillover.
I am not satisfied with that.
Quantity is useful, but my trait is control.
If my Power of Destruction simply becomes a bigger flood, I am not using my advantage.
What I want is a change in quality.
Not just destroying matter, energy, spells.
Destroying concepts.
Erasures that ignore durability, distance, conventional defenses.
Something like Shiva.
In this world, he is a god of destruction that exists at a conceptual level. He does not just crush objects. He erases existence along definitions, along metaphysical lines.
In another world, Beerus, a god of destruction, snaps a finger and objects disappear in purple dissolution that looks suspiciously like a cousin of my own power.
Those patterns appeal to me.
Conceptual erasure suits Absolute Spell Control more than raw torrents do.
If I can mutate my Power of Destruction from "highly destructive demonic energy" to "divine level conceptual erasure", then the amount I need becomes less important than the precision with which I apply it.
The question is how...
Mutation.
Fiction loves mutation.
In many stories, mutation is an easy path to power. Bloodlines mutate and become stronger. Abilities evolve to next forms. Energy changes color and leaps tiers.
Reality, in my old world, is less forgiving.
In genetics, mutation is a change in the DNA sequence. A substitution, insertion, deletion, inversion.
Sometimes it does nothing noticeable.
Often it breaks something.
Proteins misfold. Regulatory sequences fail. Development goes wrong. Cancer appears. Organisms die before birth or early in life.
Beneficial mutations are rare.
Most random changes are neutral at best or lethal at worst.
Evolution works not because mutation is inherently good, but because given enough time and enough bodies, a very small number of beneficial changes survive and propagate amidst a sea of failures.
When I consider mutating my Power of Destruction, I cannot simply say, "I will mutate it" and expect a perfect upgrade.
Randomness is unreliable.
Fortunately, what I am attempting is not literally genetic mutation.
My demonic energy is not DNA.
I am working on a different layer.
Ability.
Demonic energy in this universe already has fluid rules. It responds to imagination, to training, to bloodline traits. Sitri water manipulations, Gremory luck, Astaroth control, Bael destruction.
There is precedent for energy mutating based on stimuli.
Sirzechs's power mutated into something far beyond ordinary destruction, twisted by his emotions and circumstances.
Devils' magic circles can also be rewritten, improved, layered.
The problem is that most devils approach mutation in a crude way.
They pour more energy into a concept and hope it changes.
I have tried the basic things already.
Condensing my Power of Destruction to extreme density. Spinning it in opposite directions. Mixing it with Touki, with Senjutsu, seeing if the structure reacts.
Some small improvements have occurred in handling and stability, but nothing like the conceptual leap I want.
The conclusion I arrive at is this:
Conceptual powers require conceptual methods.
You cannot brute force a concept with raw quantity.
Imagination is part of it, certainly. Devils' powers respond to how they envision them. But imagination alone, even a vivid one, may not be enough to change the category.
The destructive ability of Shiva exists, here and in my original database, as a divine function.
The same for many gods. Their powers are not just demonic energy with a different color. They are anchored in Divinity.
If I want my Power of Destruction to rise to that level, I may need to touch that layer.
Divine power.
Not as in "convert to angel" or "pray and hope". That would be ridiculous, and biologically my devil nature would reject pure holy energy.
What I need is conceptual contact.
An interface.
If I can study how divine destruction functions, not just in myth but in practical application, then map its structure with Absolute Spell Control, I might be able to gently push my own power along an upgrade path that mirrors some of those properties.
This would not be a genetic mutation in the strict sense.
It would be an ability mutation.
A restructuring of how my demonic energy behaves at its most fundamental level.
That is still risky.
If I fail, I could end up with a crippled power. Or one that is unstable, prone to destroying more than I intend. Or, in the worst case, a self targeting erasure.
But my risk tolerance is higher than most, and my control trait lowers the real danger.
On the other side of success lies something interesting.
First, Super Devil.
If I manage to raise the quality of my Power of Destruction to something like "Divine Destruction", then by sheer effectiveness it will qualify as beyond normal Satan class.
Second, a further, even more ambitious step.
Devil God. A concept I have theorized, something beyond the super devil, a next evolution.
Lucifer, the original, is the only known case of a mixture between demonic and holy power. He was weaker than Sirzechs, but his nature was indeed different from other devils.
His rebellion, his fall, his existence, created a category where Divinity and demonic nature coexisted.
If I can one day merge a mutation of my Power of Destruction that leans into Divinity with my devil nature, and gain a divinity of my own to combine with myself, I might step into that hybrid category.
Not as a fallen angel.
Not as a redeemed devil.
As something new.
A Devil God.
That is a self created label, not a system rank, but it fits.
A being who is fundamentally devil, yet contains Divinity without being consumed by it.
Theoretically, that could place me on a similar level as Shiva, perhaps even allow me to surpass the Biblical God's peak if I manage to optimize it far enough.
Top five at least.
The work to get there, however, is immense.
First, I have to reach Satan class.
Ultimate is not enough to play with divinity without getting erased.
Second, I need data.
Watching God's power. Studying how divine power manipulates concepts. Observing Lucifer's remnants, if any are accessible, or just try my luck on Vali Lucifer.
Third, I need to conduct careful, incremental experiments. Acquiring some minor gods from some forgotten religion to experiment on might help, I just need to know more about divinity as an energy.
No desperate gambles.
No "I will swallow this divine energy and hope for the best" stupidity.
Design, test, calibrate.
I am good at that.
But even for me, this is a long term project.
Years, possibly decades.
In the meantime, there is the practical problem of how to reach Satan class in the first place.
My Ultimate class level reached 80 points.
My energy control has improved further since then. My Astaroth trait honed, my Touki integration refined, my Senjutsu usage stabilized.
If I prepare with the same thoroughness, I can perhaps push my efficiency to 75 for the Satan jump.
That would place me firmly in high level Satan the moment I cross.
Once there, further growth is incremental rather than explosive. No more massive tier jumps. Small optimizations, ability mutations, conceptual upgrades.
Which brings me back, inevitably, to the idea of mutation and the caution that comes with it.
In biology, if you mutate every gene haphazardly, you kill the organism.
In abilities, if you mutate every function randomly, you cripple the system.
The key is targeted, intentional change.
I have the advantage of Absolute Spell Control. My magic responds like code. I can see patterns that others only feel. I can edit my own circles as if I were debugging.
That is why I am confident that, eventually, I can attempt this. Not now, not while my base is still incomplete, but later.
For now, I take note of the path, then set it aside.
There are steps to complete before I walk that road.
I close my eyes for a moment and run a mental log.
Data point 1: Akeno's attitude shifted post conversation. Crush confirmed. Decided policy: no active pursuit of relationships until Satan class reached.
Data point 2: Time skip of one year yielded large gains. Ultimate class breakthrough accomplished six months ago. Landing point at 72 on internal scale. Currently High level Ultimate at point 80.
Data point 3: Public registration as Ultimate class approved by council. Underworld's perception updated. Bael image strengthened. Rias pleased, Sairaorg pressured but determined.
Data point 4: Current objective short term: continue optimizing energy control, Touki, Senjutsu, and team training.
Medium term: prepare for Satan class breakthrough with target landing point of 75.
Long term: research path to mutate Power of Destruction towards conceptual, divine adjacent erasure. Consider integration with divinity for potential Devil God state.
If that means rewriting what a devil can be, then so be it.